Cheap Android tablets A large number are found in every budget segment and with options available for different types of users. The Huion Kamvas Slate 11 is an affordable Android 14 tablet priced at just $300. It’s a very competitive price segment, but Huion stands out as a notable contender on many grounds.
The Huion Kamvas Slate 11 is not your everyday Android tablet. Unlike typical Android tablets that come with a stylus, the Huion caters to a very niche type of user. It’s primarily an eye-friendly drawing tablet, and every aspect of the tablet is geared toward that.
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The Kamvas Slate 11 model is equipped with an 11-inch IPS LCD display with a 90 Hz refresh rate and 1920 x 1200 Full HD resolution. Brightness levels peak at 350 nits, which is not only the brightest under the sun, but also contributes to a very pleasing viewing experience. Its paper-like nature makes it ideal for reading.
As this is a drawing tablet from Huion, a specialist brand in this field, the screen displays 16.7 million colors and covers 99% of the sRGB color gamut, ideal for digital art and illustrations.
The paper-like screen makes the Slate 11 stand out popular E Ink tabletsbecause this niche focuses primarily on eye comfort. As much as the E Ink tabs really look like paper, they can’t compete with full-fledged Android tablets like the Kamvas Slate 11 in one key area: video playback. The fast 90Hz display easily outperforms even the most premium e-paper displays.
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Besides the tablet itself, Huion offers a few extras in the box. It includes the brand’s H-Pencil capacitive stylus, which supports 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt recognition, and tilt alignment. It has a customizable hotkey and charges via USB-C. Included are additional stylus tips, a USB-C charging cable, a card eject tool, a leather folio case with a pen slot, and an artist glove.
The leather mimics the trifold boxes seen on the folio case Samsung Galaxy tablets. It only folds into the stand in landscape orientation. You can do this by folding the folio both inside and outside. The only difference is that folding it out places the camera at the bottom, which isn’t ideal for online meetings or video calls.
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Meanwhile, gloves are necessary because the Kamvas Slate 11 does not have palm rejection. Trying to draw or write on a tablet without gloves is a concern. I’m used to typing on Onyx Boox tablets, which have fantastic palm rejection and offer granular control over palm detection in various apps.
It was hard to break the carefree habit of resting my bare palm on the tablet while writing or sketching. And because it has such high pressure sensitivity, even the smallest touch notes are there.
Plus, the H-Pencil’s hotkey/side button keeps getting accidentally pressed while typing, so typing on the Huion tablet took some getting used to. In the end I turned off the button.
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Still, writing and drawing on the paper-like screen feels fantastic. Although there is no native OCR, you can write on fields using H-Pencil instead of typing. Pen sensitivity can be adjusted through the HiPaint program. The side key can only be customized in HiPaint and ibisPaint.
You get minimal bloatware and a clean Android 14 build. Huion’s own HiNote and HiPaint programs are pre-installed along with some others the best drawing programs Like Ibis Paint X and Clip Studio Paint. Huion offers free three-month memberships for both apps.
I’m partial to Ibis Paint X because of its user-friendly interface and extensive arsenal of tools. However, I was pleased to find that HiPaint is quite similar to Ibis Paint X in terms of use, flow and layout.
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Battery life on the Huion Kamvas Slate 11 is phenomenal thanks to its generous 8000 mAh battery. However, I’d really like the 10W charging speed to be at least three times faster, as it’s not ideal for batteries of this size.
The tablet also has four speakers, 128 GB of internal memory, a memory card slot (up to 1TB), dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, 8MP front camera and 13MP rear camera. Camera quality is poor, but sufficient for basic uses such as video calls and document scans. It doesn’t have an IP rating and there’s no guarantee of software updates, which is a bummer.
The Huion has paired a sporty MediaTek Helio G99 processor with 8GB of RAM, resulting in fairly fast performance. I was impressed by its smooth processing ability, as the tablet didn’t stutter even with multiple apps open at the same time in split-screen mode. Many budget gaming phones rely on the Helio G99, which helps explain the impressive performance of the Kamvas Slate 11.
Overall, the Huion has a solid, reliable build reminiscent of the Kamvas Slate 11. Amazon Fire Max 11. It works well and comes with a high-end stylus and display, and when paired with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, it functions as a portable workstation. Given that it’s an inexpensive entry into the world of drawing tablets and comes with two free subscriptions, artists or art students who use it the most will benefit.
There are plenty of budget tablets out there with better upgrade guarantees and charging features, but few are artists of this caliber. Huion regularly discounts its tablet below $300, so if you’re looking at this bold drawing tablet, I’d suggest getting it for as little as possible.
An e-reader that is not an e-reader
Interested in E Ink tablets but can’t pull the trigger? The Huion Kamvas Slate 11 doesn’t have the ghosting problem or video playback limitations of E Ink tablets, but its eye comfort is almost on par with them. If you’re looking for an affordable Android tablet for studying and some entertainment, this is a great tablet to consider.
